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When you're in an emergency, you've been taught to do one thing: Call 911 for help.

But what if we told you the 911 dispatchers on the other end of the line are as helpless as you are?

The NBC2 Investigators spent months testing the location accuracy of 911 calls made by cell phones, and the results we uncovered are shocking.

When you call 911 from your cell phone, the dispatcher does not see your actual location.

Instead, they have to ask your wireless carrier to get that information from a cell tower that may be around the corner or miles away. And, if you can't verbalize your exact address, the dispatchers may not be able to find you.

"I came home after I got off work and found my kids in the house by themselves. A stranger named Michael King took my wife, kidnapped her in broad daylight, left my two kids in the house by themselves, and proceeded to rape her and murder her."

Lee believes she could have been saved.

"There were multiple 911 calls made and multiple witnesses who saw my wife," he said.

Denise even made a call to 911 herself from inside her captor's car, begging for her life.

"But because it was from a cell phone and it was in a moving car, they weren't able to find her," Lee said.

Almost a decade later, technology has evolved, and we have smartphones and social media apps that can pinpoint our exact location.

But the NBC2 Investigators have learned that 911 centers are woefully behind the times.

"Because we're relying on information provided from the carriers. The 911 centers do not have any control over the accuracy that is provided," said Laurie Anderson, Charlotte County's E911 coordinator.

Anderson agreed to let us test cell phone accuracy from inside the Charlotte County Dispatch Center, using AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

Each time we called 911, our calls continually pinged cell towers that were 3 to 4 miles away.

The dispatcher could not pinpoint our location.

"Is that because we are inside a building? With barriers?" asked Polansky.

"Correct," Anderson replied.

Once we stepped outside the dispatch center and called 911, the operator was able to find our location.

Why did this happen?

We learned the wireless location system used by 911 was designed 20 years ago when people relied on landlines.

We called the four major cell phone carriers to find out why they're not using technology with better location accuracy.

They directed us to their lobbying group, CTIA, who refused to an on-camera interview.

Matt Gerst, CTIA Assistant Vice President of Regulatory Affairs gave us this statement:

"In the U.S., over 300 million mobile devices—with different capabilities, from feature phones to smartphones—can be used to call 9-1-1, and over 6,000 different 9-1-1 centers—with varying technical capabilities and authorities—respond to these 9-1-1 calls. And while America’s geography is wonderfully diverse—from dense urban environments to rural landscapes—the FCC requires wireless carriers to meet 9-1-1 location accuracy requirements across them all.

CTIA and our wireless industry member companies are working with the public safety community and the FCC to harness innovative technologies that are enhancing our wireless 9-1-1 location accuracy capabilities today, especially indoors. Vendors of 9-1-1 location technologies are welcome to demonstrate that their technologies can truly enhance our 9-1-1 location accuracy capabilities by participating in the independent testing programs required by the FCC. (For more information, see: www.911locationtestbed.org)."

We called the FCC, who also refused to comment. However, they told us that they have adopted new rules that will help dispatchers better locate wireless callers.

Michael Martin, the CEO of a tech start-up company, thinks he has the answer to the problem.

"What we do is, we're able to capture more sensors on your smartphones, in addition to using GPS and cell towers, we use WiFi and Bluetooth information, and we can very accurately pinpoint your location typically to 15 meters of accuracy," Martin said.

His company is called RapidSOS and is made up of Ivy Leaguers and former FCC executives. They've developed technology that can send your exact location from your cell phone to 911.

RapidSOS is perfecting its technology by working with 911 centers across the country, including the 911 center in Collier County.

Each time, RapidSOS pinpointed our exact location within seconds, while Collier County dispatchers, relying on their current 911 system, struggled to find our location.

"It's very frustrating, and I'm sure it's the same way for the community," said Bob Finney, communications director with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. "A lot of that information is out there, but it's not available to public safety."

Martin tells the NBC2 Investigators that RapidSOS is working with the cell phone carriers and the FCC to get this technology embedded into our smartphones before 2021.

The FCC would not comment on their relationship.

"If this testing is going on, why aren't they updating the media and updating the public?" Polansky asked Martin.

"I think there's a desire to see those results before they speak publicly about how good or bad it's ultimately going to end up. I will say I've seen some of that data already and without getting into the numbers, we can say it's going to be dramatically better," Martin said.

While carriers and the FCC wait to release results and wait to update the public, callers are waiting too — for help that didn't come 10 years ago.

"Not much has changed at all," said Lee.

And, isn't coming now.

"My two boys without a mother is evidence that this is unacceptable," Lee said.

2018-03-17T20:57:05Z2018-03-17T20:57:04ZJailhouse video reveals California sheriff’s deputies watching and sometimes laughing as a schizophrenic man who had been strapped naked to a chair for 46 hours writhes on the floor of his cell, loses consciousness and eventually dies.